Hitherto, various complicated, expensive and difficult-to-maintain mechanical systems have been constructed and operated to dispense chlorine pellets and the like into controlled and purified bodies of water in order to maintain the bacteria count therein below an acceptable level. Examples of such prior art mechanical systems may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,849 issued to Handeland, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,399 issued to Burckhardt, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,900 issued to Behrens.
Generally speaking, the pellet dispensing systems of the above three prior art patents have been frequently subject to malfunction as a result of the fact that their operation requires that the pellet be first dropped into a slot and then moved with sliding friction across a flat surface before being dropped into a gate opening. This action causes the pellets to be ground down and thereby create a substantial amount of chlorine pellet dust. The apparatus of these prior art patents are not equipped with means for adequately eliminating the pellet dust, and thus the accumulated dust can place an unacceptable load on the drive motor, clog up the system, and render it inoperative.
In addition, the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,399 requires a substantial amount of disassembly in order to control motor speed and the regularity or periodicity of pellet dispensation, whereas the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,849 operates in such a manner that the volume of pellets stacked on a rotational disk produces a pressure imbalance in the apparatus and in turn frequently causes the jamming of pellets therein. Moreover, the apparatus of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,694,900 and 4,235,849 require a major disassembling effort in order to correct malfunctions therein, and the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,399 requires some, although not as much, disassembling as in the case with the apparatus of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,694,900 and 4,235,849. Furthermore, all of the above prior art apparatus and dispensing systems operate so that a malfunction within the interior of the apparatus, such as chlorine pellets jamming at a gate opening, load down the motor shaft which operates to drive the apparatus at a controlled speed. This characteristic in turn causes, among other things, undue wear on the motor and can produce an irregularity in the chlorine pellet dispensation process.